Circus Sweets.

While browsing in Bangkok's Siam Square, I came across a small candy shop selling these unusual sweets. While the rather hard 'caramels' aren't particularly tasty, I rather liked the vintage animal illustrations that adorned their wrappers. They seem to be inspired by scenes from a circus- aside from the badger with a handkerchief, which has left me rather puzzled.

Gods and spirits of Thong Lo: #4, Chic Style of J Ave Spirits

One of the interesting characteristics of spirit-houses is that they should match in style and tone the larger development they are built for. Simple country homes may have simple spirit-houses, soaring high-rises have strange modernist forms. The well-styled spirits of Thong Lo's J Avenue obviously need a stylish home, so they have this chic white abode.

I'm say stop global warming.

Last week, I picked up three handmade postcards being sold by the students of my school. Apparently designed to promote several environmental messages, they had a charmingly simple, graphic style. The first was a cute drawing of an elephant, accented with plastic butterflies.

The second was a sweet misquoting of the "I am not a plastic bag" purse, which is currently one of the hottest knock-off bag designs in Bangkok.

And this one, of course, had obvious appeal.

Painted Stork.

Back in July, Bordeaux and I visited the Chiang Mai zoo, mainly so that I could see the beautiful Mekong Giant Catfish. While there were a few odd elements- a confusing layout and an abundance of concrete trees- it was a rather impressive zoo, with a wide range of animals scattered throughout the beautifully landscaped forest. One of the most intriguing aspects of the zoo was the use of hand-painted signs to identify animals. With their bold colors and dramatic lettering, they made even the penguins look like stars in an action movie.

Satay in the news.

Though the phrase "Stop Global Warming" is popping up in my students' vocabulary, and knock-off "This is Not a Plastic Bag" totes are becoming ubiquitous at street stands, Bangkok is still a very wasteful city. I have an impossible time convincing the cashiers at 7/11 that I don't need three plastic bags when I buy an airtime card for my phone, and I attract a small crowd of amused onlookers at Tesco-Lotus every time I try to explain that I don't need a separate bag for each item in my grocery cart. So though I don't know why my satay needed it's own little bag, I was at least pleased that it came in a bag folded from recycled newspaper.

Dashboard offerings.

At an informal station near the Ayutthaya market, Bordeaux and I encountered several rows of brightly painted metal buses. They were left abandoned, doors open, waiting to be explored. On the dashboards of each bus were a bright array of offerings; plastic garlands, fresh fruit, and luridly painted ceramic gods.

Papaya soap.

One of my favorite things about living in Bangkok is the abundance of fresh, delicious, inexpensive tropical fruit. Lately I've really grown addicted to the flavor of papaya in my morning muesli. So it's no wonder that I was drawn to this Likas Papaya soap. Bordeaux pointed it out to me today, as we glanced over a sidewalk table of toiletries in Banglamphu. The hot, retro graphics on the bright orange packaging only further sold me. It even smelled good! Now, if only it wasn't a skin whitening soap...

Click Click.

Since my entire wardrobe had to fit into a backpack for three months of travel, my Bangkok closet is a bit bare. Desiring a little variety in my outfits (I was starting to feel like a cartoon character), I've been searching for t-shirts. I finally found this one in Siam Square, a maze-like market/mall in downtown Bangkok that provides the city's youth with hip and inexpensive clothing and accessories. The stall in which I found the camera-shirt had all sorts of cheap men's t-shirts, with prints ranging from the stylish to the offbeat to the vaguely disturbing. I'm not planning on posting every new item of clothing I buy, but I wanted to share the sharp graphics on this one. Aside from being brown (my favorite color) and alluding to my favorite hobby, it's expressive of the eccentric sense of design in the clothes for sale in Bangkok's markets.